


A Matter of Trust

by SassyEverlarking



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-14
Updated: 2013-03-14
Packaged: 2017-12-05 00:23:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/716742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassyEverlarking/pseuds/SassyEverlarking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How can she be expected to trust him when he's the one person she hates more than anyone else?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Matter of Trust

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jgem87](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jgem87/gifts).



> Want to thank my wonderful beta, who managed to get this massive thing beta'd for me in two days despite personal difficulties! All that hard work was very much appreciated. Also want to send a special thanks to the person who helped with this idea and was my sounding board for pretty much every issue I had when writing it. You know who you are!
> 
> I'm planning on making up a post of notes that will cover specific places named in this fic. That won't be posted until after the authors for the fics are revealed, obviously, so I apologize for not being able to provide information on these places just yet. I know it would probably help you all form better pictures for the locations in the fic.
> 
> I certainly hope you all enjoy, especially you jgem87! I hope this is what you were looking for with this prompt!

“Whoever decided this was a good night for sister solidarity needs to be hit,” Katniss mumbled, crossing her arms over her damp chest. At least she’d had the foresight to wear a bra under the white shirt with her sorority’s letters hand-painted across the front in scarlet red. She would bet money the same couldn’t be said for some of her other sisters.  
  
Her grey eyes turned a pointed look at her companion in line. “Or shot.”  
  
Madge rolled her eyes and gave Katniss an amused look in return. “You know this has been coming for months.” She shook her head, her already limp blonde curls sending droplets of water flying all around. “It’s not like Glimmer knew what the weather was going to do back in May.”  
  
Bringing her hand to her chest dramatically, Katniss’ eyes grew as wide as a startled deer. “Rain in August, in the south?!” She dropped her jaw open in mock shock and brought the hand on her chest up to partially cover her mouth. “I just _can’t_ believe it!”  
  
“Stop it!” Madge giggled, shoving at Katniss’ shoulder playfully. Katniss grinned back at her. “Glimmer is our new president. It’s not nice to mock her.”  
  
“I’ll mock anyone who has me standing out in the rain, waiting in line to get into a bar.” Katniss moved forward in the line, Madge stepping along beside her. Just a few more people, and they’d at least be out of the drizzle, under the covered porch entrance to Bullwinkle’s.  
  
And then an ID check and a cover charge would be the only things between her and precious freedom. Freedom being all you can drink top-shelf booze until one in the morning.  
  
“Just think of it this way,” Madge chirped playfully as they stepped up onto the covered wooden platform. “You’ll be too drunk to care about the rain on the walk back to the house.”  
  
Katniss smiled at her friend for saying exactly what she’d been thinking, as she tended to do on a regular basis. If anyone got Katniss Everdeen, it was her roommate, Madge Undersee.  
  
“ID please, Miss Everdeen,” Brutus, the bouncer, questioned with what most would consider a serious tone. Katniss knew better than to take it as it sounded.  
  
“If you know my name,” she started, pulling her license from the back pocket of her jeans. She held it out, but refused to let it go when he took a hold of it. “Why do you need my ID?”  
  
Brutus tugged a little harder, pulling it from her grasp. “Because I like my job.” He examined the card briefly, then handed it back. “Nobody gets special treatment, not even you pretty little sorority girls.”  
  
Katniss smiled prettily for him before stepping through the doorway into the bar. She exchanged her ID for a folded ten dollar bill from her back pocket, handing it off to the guy seated at the wooden table by the door. After he had it stored in the register, he stamped her hand and handed her a clear plastic cup with a black marker slash across the side.  
  
While she waited for Madge to get stamped and grab her own cup, Katniss eyed the room around her. It wasn’t very packed yet, but it was also a bit on the early side. In another hour, the place would be a sweaty, dancing pit of drunken college students.  
  
“Imagine how gross it’s going to get in here when everyone starts grinding up on each other, all damp from the rain outside.” Madge mused as she stepped up beside Katniss.  
  
“A lot worse than usual, I would expect.” Katniss sighed, wrinkling her nose towards her friend before moving across the wooden floor. The bar that spanned the length of the room on her left side had plenty of openings to slip in and order a drink, but she didn’t stop until she was near the sectioned off part of the bar in the back. It was where she got the best service - likely because the bartenders remembered her penchant to tip well when they treated her well.  
  
She stepped up on the round footrest running along the bottom of the bar, resting her elbows on top of the smooth surface. The bartender was busy serving a few other patrons, so Katniss turned her attention to Madge.  
  
“Who’s coming tonight?”  
  
Madge had her cup hanging from her mouth. She flicked at it idly and shrugged. “You know, everyone,” she said, talking around the plastic lodged between her teeth. When Katniss simply widened her eyes and shook her head, an indication for Madge to elaborate, she pulled the cup from her mouth with a sigh.  
  
“Alpha Chi, obviously. And you know...” Madge shrugged, looking desperately towards the bartender to see if he was going to get to them any time soon. Like immediately. “Others.”  
  
Katniss stared at the back of Madge’s head. “Others?” When Madge only made an approving sound and nodded, not turning back to look at her, Katniss realized why. “Oh no... no...” She stepped back from the bar and pointed angrily at her friend. “Madge!”  
  
Madge turned and gave her a wounded look. “It’s not my fault they were invited!” She held up her hands. “You know how Glimmer has a thing for-”  
  
“Kappa fucking Sigma.” Katniss muttered, turning away from Madge abruptly and letting out an aggravated growl. She turned back to find Madge giving her a look between sympathy and disbelief.  
  
“I don’t understand why you hate those guys so much!” Madge whispered as Katniss took her spot against the bar once more, her arms flopping down dramatically. “You know most of our stuff is tied in with them because Glimmer has her eye on Cato.”  
  
Katniss dropped her head, closing her eyes and pulling in a deep breath. “I know.” She glanced up at Madge. “And I don’t _hate_ all of them. I’m cool with Finnick.”  
  
“Which is shocking in and of itself, considering.” Madge giggled.  
  
Cracking a smile, Katniss nodded. “Yeah...” Her smile turned into a small scowl. “But it’s hard getting him away from that smarmy little shit-”  
  
“What’re ya drinking?” The bartender had finally found his way over to them, reaching for their cups.  
  
Katniss smiled at him, partially glad for the interruption. “Captain and Coke, please.”

“Sex on the Beach,” Madge ordered, rolling her eyes at the way Katniss hid a snort behind her hand. “What are you, twelve? There is nothing wrong with ordering Sex on the Beach.”  
  
“I like the way this little lady thinks!” Large arms wrapped around Madge’s waist, causing her to shriek playfully. She glanced over her shoulder to find Finnick Odair pressed against her back. “You know I’m all for a bit of sex on the beach myself.”  
  
“Classy,” Katniss nodded, winking at him before sucking down half of her drink as she turned away from the bar. If Finnick Odair had arrived, it meant that _he_ wasn’t far behind.  
  
“For you ladies, always!” Finnick pulled away from Madge to brush the bangs hanging in Katniss’ eyes. She swatted at his hand, very used to his blatant flirting. Sucking down the rest of her drink, she turned back to the bar. She signaled to the bartender to get her another. “Looking to get _well lubricated_ , Kitty Kat?”  
  
Katniss flicked him off. “Just prepping myself for a night surrounded by sisters and...” Her grey eyes sized up Finnick slowly. “Your lot.” She happily accepted her drink, sticking a third straw into it. She liked to add a new one for each refill she got.  
  
Finnick looked at Madge, frowning dramatically. “She wounds me!” He nodded over her blonde head at the bartender, who nodded back in kind.  
  
Madge slipped the straw of her drink from between her lips, swallowing the sip she had just taken. “Don’t take it personally, Finn. Katniss just disapproves of your choice of wingman.” She looked at her friend, who was giving her a death glare. “What?!”

“What’s this?” Finnick looked from Madge to Katniss with wide eyes. “Kitty Kat doesn’t like Peeta Mellark?” He reached out and handed the bartender a ten, who in turn handed him the trademark ‘big’ cup with the Bullwinkle’s logo slapped on the side. “But _everybody_ loves Mr. Charming and Handsome!”  
  
“That’s the problem.” Katniss made a face. “ _Everyone_ loves him... or perhaps that should be the other way around,” she shuddered dramatically.  
  
Finnick pouted at her. “But you can’t fault a man for his God given good looks.” He turned a wink on Madge. “After all.” She giggled.  
  
Katniss rolled her eyes, “So he looks good in a pair of tight jeans!” Finnick and Madge both turned, sporting surprised looks in her direction. She blushed. “But...uh... being handsome doesn’t make up for the way he...” she faltered, hating the shit-eating grin that was slowly forming on Finnick’s face.  
  
She jabbed her finger at his chest. “At least you haven’t slept your way through Alpha Chi, and half the other houses on campus!”  
  
“Why, you make him sound like some sort of,” Finnick gasped, doing his best imitation of a Southern belle. “ _Sexual_ fiend!”  
  
Katniss made a sound in the back of her throat, letting him know she wasn’t refuting the remark. She slid her three straws into her mouth, sipping while coyly glancing up at Finnick. She reached her free hand out to Madge, pulling her friend away from him.  
  
“You know I can’t let you get away with talking about my wingman like that!” Finnick called mischievously after they pair as Katniss dragged Madge out onto the large patio area that made up the back of the club.  
  
\----  
  
Gripping one of the many straws in her cup between her fingers, she brought the drink up to her lips. Closing her eyes as she took a sip, she continued to sway to the music the DJ was pumping through the speakers. It was some hip-hop song that she was sure Delly would know if she cared to ask. It wasn’t what she normally preferred, but she was enough Captain and Cokes in that she didn’t mind. All that mattered to her was that it had a good beat she could dance to.  
  
A pair of hands found their way to her hips, and Katniss pushed back against the groin suddenly grinding into her backside. She was usually against the whole grinding thing that went down on dance floors, but it was another thing she found herself making less of a fuss over the more she drank. And it was Greek central station in the place - she was sure it was someone she knew and could semi-trust enjoying a few dances with.  
  
The hand on her right hip slid around to her stomach, fingers inching up under the edge of her shirt to brush against the skin of her stomach. She giggled, dropping her head back against a shoulder.  
  
“So I’ve heard a little rumor...”  
  
Katniss froze at the all-too-familiar voice murmuring against her ear. She spun around, finding herself staring at the smiling face of Peeta Mellark. His curly blond hair was matted down with sweat, likely from dancing with every one of her sisters. His blue eyes were cloudy from drink, but he looked as handsome as Finnick had said. As handsome as she had confirmed him to be.  
  
And she hated him for it.  
  
“And what rumor is that?” she questioned, giving him the same coy look she had given Finnick earlier. She took a small drink from her cup.  
  
Peeta’s grin widened. “That you,” he began, tapping his finger against her shoulder before running it down her arm. He glanced down at her chest briefly, and she knew full well it had nothing to do with the Greek letters on her sweaty shirt. “Don’t like me much.”  
  
Katniss feigned innocence. “Oh?”  
  
Nodding, Peeta placed his cup against his lips. He quickly gulped down the remainder of his drink, smacking his lips as he finished. “So I figured I’d come see if such _vicious_ and _horrible_ rumors were true.”  
  
“And if they are?”  
  
Peeta shook his empty cup and grinned again. “Then you let me buy you a drink.”  
  
She rolled her eyes. “The drinks are free.”  
  
He abruptly pulled her against him, his arm sliding around her back. “The big ones aren’t.”  
  
Disgusted, Katniss shoved him away. “You’re an asshole.” She turned and barreled her way through the crowd of pulsing bodies.  
  
Peeta was quick to follow. “Oh, come on, sweetheart! You’re the one who said you don’t like me!” He was sure to say it loud enough so all those around could hear. “I’m trying to be the good guy here!”  
  
Turning back around, Katniss gave him her nastiest scowl. She jabbed him in the chest with her finger. “I’m not one of your drunk little sorority fuck buddies that you can charm your dick into!”  
  
“Calm down, firecracker!”

“Stop that!” Katniss shoved him in the chest again. “Don’t call me things like firecracker and sweetheart!”  
  
“Okay, _Katniss_.” Peeta pressed his body flush against hers, and she stepped back. A blush worked its way up her neck. “No drink,” he winked at her, clearly enjoying the rise he was getting out of her. “So how about one full dance?”  
  
Katniss scoffed, looking away from him and taking a drink. “What makes you think I’d possibly-”  
  
“I’ll leave you alone,” Peeta cut her off, holding out his hand in offering. “You give me _one_ dance, and I promise I won’t bug you about your little hate crush after it.” He shrugged. “I mean, I can’t fault everyone for bad taste.”  
  
She looked at him skeptically. “How can I believe you?”  
  
Peeta leaned in close. “Guess you’ll just have to trust me,” he whispered.  
  
The thought of putting any trust in Peeta Mellark put a bad taste in her mouth; she certainly wasn’t opposed to him staying away from her. As he pulled back, watching her expectantly, she let out a reluctant sigh. She tossed the rest of her drink into her mouth, shoving the cup at him.  
  
“Get me a fucking refill, Mellark.”    
  
\----  
  
With their hands clasped together so they wouldn’t wander too far apart, Katniss and Madge ambled their way across Tennessee Street, away from Bullwinkle’s as quickly as their drunk feet would carry them. It was raining more steadily than it had been when they’d made their way down to the bar, but Katniss couldn’t take her thoughts away from the night’s events long enough to care.  
  
“Oh, just let it out!” Madge moaned loudly, using her free hand to shake out the ends of her hair.  
  
“Let what out of where?” Katniss frowned down at her feet, trying her best to avoid the cracks in the sidewalk that ran along Copeland.  
  
“I can feel you brooding.” Madge had a slightly exasperated edge to her voice. They came to a stop at the intersection, waiting as a couple of cars drove past. “It’s...it’s like your seething anger is traveling from you through me!” She pulled the hand from her hair to wave it in front of their joined hands. “So spit it out before your transferred anger makes me hit you.”  
  
“I’m not brooding,” Katniss argued, finding herself being tugged across Call Street when Madge found an opportune moment to do so. As soon as her feet touched the sidewalk on the other side, the blond was turning on her with her hands on her hips.  
  
“Katniss Everdeen, I am your best friend and roommate!” she announced loudly. “I know when you’re brooding, and I know you’re doing it right now. So you tell me why this minute!”  
  
Katniss stumbled past her, the Music Building a large blur off to her right. “You know why I’m brooding!”  
  
“So tell me anyways!”  
  
Swinging around quickly, Katniss stuck out a hand to the Housewright sign to keep from tumbling backwards. “He danced with me! Peeta fucking Mellark danced with me, that asshole!”  
  
She waited to see what Madge would say in response, but her friend simply watched her with wide, expectant eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest.  
  
“What?!” Katniss gestured wildly with her free arm. “You want me to shout to the heavens that I hate him?!” Throwing her head back, Katniss screamed to the sky. “I hate him! I hate Peeta Mellark!”  
  
Her vision swam as she brought her head back down, but she refused to let it derail her. Madge wanted a rant, and she was going to get one. “He’s a shifty, manipulative little shit who charms his way into everyone’s lives and his dick into the pants of almost every active in our house!”  
  
Katniss closed her eyes, missing the look of guilt that briefly passed over Madge’s face.  
  
She pulled in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “And I hate him.” She opened her eyes to find her friend smiling at her.  
  
“Do you feel better now?” Madge gestured at her with both hands.  
  
Katniss took a moment to think about it, but finally shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”  
  
“Good!” Madge clapped, stepping up to Katniss and turning her around. She linked their arms together and continued the trek towards their house. “Now let’s get your drunk, ranting ass home.”  
  
Katniss leaned against her and pouted. “I think I hate you.”  
  
“Not as much as you hate Peeta Mellark.”  
  
\----

_Five Months Later_

  
Sipping her Starbucks usual, Katniss made her way towards Bellamy using the path that ran behind HCB. The warmth of the chai running to her stomach helped cut out the chill of the January air. It only made her good mood seem better.  
  
It was the beginning of a new semester - a chance to start fresh with classes and settle into a new daily routine. Being back at school also meant she was away from her slightly off-kilter mother and hormonal teenage sister once again. As much as she enjoyed the holiday break, it had been a crazy two weeks back at home. She was ready to get back to the normalcy of both school and sorority.  
  
Katniss cut down the strip of sidewalk that broke off from the main path, a diagonal shot to Bellamy. She glanced up at the bright white building that stood out like a sore thumb against all the red brick that made up most of her campus. It housed the school’s History Department, which was likely the reason the History seminar she’d signed up for would be taking place in it. There were hallways full of small classrooms perfect for a class of just over a dozen students.  
  
Sliding her sunglasses atop her head, Katniss pulled open the dark glass door just to the right of a row of vending machines. She paused inside, looking for one of the signs that indicated which direction certain classrooms were located. She’d only had one other class in the building, and then it hadn’t been in a classroom on the ground floor like her next class was in, if the ‘00’ meant anything.  
  
Katniss glanced at the sign on the wall before her, indicating which classrooms were down the hallway to her immediate right. Hers wasn’t in that number range. She moved forward, noticing that the archway above the hallway to her left listed more numbers.  
  
One wrong direction and a couple of turns later, Katniss pushed open the door to the classroom she’d be spending three hours a day, every week, in for the next four months. It was empty. Not that she was surprised - she was twenty minutes early. It was one of the perks of scheduling a lot of free time in between classes.  
  
Taking the seat against the wall in front of the door, Katniss pulled out her laptop. She decided to look over the class syllabus one more time before it started. Pulling up the saved document, she read through all of the general stuff - textbooks, requirements, and what was expected from the class.  
  
She was just getting to the information on the assignment that essentially determined her entire grade when the door clicked open loudly. Katniss glanced up as a tall, shaggy-haired guy strolled in. She nodded a hello at him, and he smiled back briefly. She looked to the syllabus on her screen once more while the guy found a seat that he liked.  
  
Katniss hadn’t even read a few sentences when the guy spoke up.  
  
“You had Paylor before?”  
  
She shook her head, trying to finish up the part about partner work. “No.” Katniss looked to her left, finding that the guy had settled into a seat two rows over. “You?”  
  
His dark bangs fell into his eyes as he nodded. “Yep. She’s a bit of a nut for this World War II stuff, but she’s pretty cool.”  
  
“Sweet!” Katniss smiled before turning back to her laptop. She had never been really good at the small talk that always happened before classes started, and hoped the guy would sense that quickly.  
  
“So what’s your major?”  
  
She resisted the urge to groan. That was always a guy’s go-to when he found himself alone in a classroom with a girl, looking for a way to spark conversation. If she had a nickel every time she’d been asked that since her freshman year...  
  
“It’s, uh... Biology.”  
  
“Wow...” the guy replied, surprise in his voice. “Why would you be taking a History seminar like this?”  
  
“Maybe I wanted a challenge?” Katniss glanced over, finding him staring at her, his eyebrows raised and an amused smirk on his lips. She shrugged and smiled. “So I’m assuming your major is History, then?”  
  
He nodded. “Yep. Got a thing for old, dead dudes and shit like that.”  
  
His response made her laugh, and she realized that maybe this guy wasn’t as bad as she’d thought. He got up from his seat, stretching out his long arm towards her.  
  
“I’m Gale.”  
  
She shook his hand. “Katniss.”  
  
They continued to chat as the classroom filled up. By the time Doctor Paylor made it into the room, Katniss was glad she’d found someone she could talk with about the subject material, at least.  
  
“Okay, welcome to your first _exciting_ three hours of this World War II seminar,” Paylor announced loudly, quieting the class and earning a few chuckles from around the room. “I know you’re all dying to get to the always tedious talk about the syllabus, but let me get this damn attendance thing out of the way before I forget.” She pulled a packet of papers from her bag and dropped it on the podium at the front of the room. “Don’t want the University dropping my entire class roster.”  
  
“So I’ll call out the students who were registered for the class as of about twenty minutes ago when I printed this thing,” she said, holding up the packet. “And if you’re here hoping someone dropped, I’ll write you in at the end. For your sake, let’s hope the syllabus scared some people away.”  
  
More chuckles echoed through the room as Paylor began to call out names. Katniss raised her hand silently when her name was called, reading through more of the syllabus as Paylor moved down her roster.  
  
She was on the ‘T’ names when the door flung open. Everyone looked towards the guy breathing hard in the doorway. Katniss’ eyes widened as she realized who it was.  
  
“Sorry!” Peeta rasped, blushing at having the attention of the entire room. “The bus... you know...” He waved a hand vaguely in the direction of the bus stop by the student union. “This is the World War II class, right?”  
  
Paylor tapped her pen against the top of the podium. “It is. Are you signed up,” she smirked, “Or did you rush over here, desperately hoping for a spot to be open?”  
  
Straightening from his slightly slouched position, Peeta tilted his head to the side a fraction. “Well, I signed up about ten minutes ago when somebody dropped the class.” He grinned at Paylor, who was looking at him with a raised eyebrow of surprise. “I’ve been dying to get into this one.”  
  
“Well then,” Paylor gestured around the room. “Park it somewhere so I can finish attendance.”  
  
As Peeta moved to take a seat, he noticed Katniss sitting against the wall. She resolutely turned her attention away, hoping he would simply stroll past and not make a big thing out of it. She hoped against everything that he wouldn’t-  
  
Peeta collapsed down into the seat right in front of hers, dropping his backpack on top of the desk. Paylor returned to calling out names, pulling the other students’ focus back towards her. Peeta shifted sideways in the chair so he was facing the whole of the classroom, and glanced right at Katniss.  
  
She squinted when he winked at her.  
  
“And you,” Paylor turned to Peeta. Katniss let out a quiet sigh, thankful his gaze was elsewhere. She was sure it wouldn’t last, however.  
  
“With your grand entrance, what name do I put down?” Paylor asked.  
  
“Peeta Mellark.”  
  
Paylor raised an eyebrow. “Pita? Like the Pit?”  
  
Katniss couldn’t help the snort she let out. It earned her a glance from Peeta, which she quickly averted her eyes from.  
  
“P-e-e-t-a, actually.” Peeta emphasized each letter almost haughtily. “Though, the bread joke was refreshing.”  
  
Paylor blinked at his forwardness. “Oh, so you’re one of those guys, I see.” She picked up her roster list and moved over to the desk where the computer was located. Tapping the screen, she brought the projector to life. “Well, Mr. Mellark...” She dropped the papers in her hand down, leaning one hand against the desk while placing the other on her hip.  
  
“You’re going to learn really quickly that you can’t simply sass your way through this class.”  
  
The projection of the computer sprung up on the large screen hanging in the corner, displaying the same syllabus that Katniss had pulled up on her own laptop. “Let’s get down to the nitty gritty, shall we?”  
  
Paylor began to read and clarify her syllabus for the class, and Katniss tried to follow along. But she kept getting distracted by the way Peeta kept smirking in her direction every few minutes. He managed to gain her attention further by repeatedly tapping his foot against the leg of her desk.  
  
“Stop it!” Katniss snapped loudly, causing Paylor to stop in mid-sentence.  
  
“Is there a problem?” she asked, looking between Katniss and Peeta.  
  
Peeta shook his head and shrugged, opting not to say anything this time. Katniss blushed and slouched down in her seat, glaring at Peeta as she also shook her head. Paylor shifted her gaze back and forth between them one more time before getting back to the usual first day of class stuff.  
  
After that, Katniss was determined not to let Peeta get a rise out of her for the remainder of the class. She refused to glance at him, even going so far as to raise her hand and question Paylor about a couple points on the syllabus to keep herself occupied with something _other_ than the guy seated in front of her.  
  
It didn’t mean that she didn’t feel the tap on the leg of her desk every now and again.  
  
\----  
  
Katniss swung open her bedroom door, flying into the room she shared with Madge. She tossed her saddlebag down on the floor beside her bed before flopping face first into the mattress.  
  
She let out a loud, aggravated moan into her pillow.  
  
“That good, huh?” Madge questioned, not even looking up from her desk where she was copying down her class schedules into her planner.  
  
“They should make ‘no douchebaggery’ a prerequisite.” Katniss’ response was deeply muffled by the pillow she refused to pull her face out of.  
  
“Prereq for what?” Madge flipped the page in her planner.  
  
Katniss sat up, shifting so she was seated at the edge of her bed. “College, life...everything!” She kicked at the side of her desk. “But specifically, my World War II seminar...”  
  
Setting down the sparkly green pen in her hand, Madge finally graced Katniss with an expectant look.  
  
“Peeta Mellark is in it.”  
  
The expectant look changed to one of understanding. “Oh, boy.”

“Oh asshole, is more like it,” Katniss grumbled, kicking especially hard at her desk a second time. She pouted down towards the plush bedroom carpet. “He purposely took the seat right in front of me and spent the entire class trying to wind me up!”  
  
“Clearly, that worked,” Madge smirked, shrugging innocently when Katniss threw a glare at her.  
  
“We didn’t even have the full class today because it was the first day...” Katniss flopped back against the bed, bringing her hands up into her hair. “How am I going to handle seeing him for three hours straight every week?”  
  
Before Madge could respond to a question she knew was rhetorical, Katniss shot back up and pointed at her.  
  
“And then, after our prof let us out, I was talking to this other guy I’d met-” She waved her finger at the intrigued look Madge was giving her. “Stop that. This isn’t about him. This is about how Peeta walked right between us, mid-conversation, and... ugh!”  
  
Madge watched Katniss flop back down again. She waited for the details on the other horrible thing Peeta had inflicted upon her. When it was obvious Katniss was getting lost in her own frustration, as she tended to do, Madge prompted for her to continue. “And...?”

“He said, ‘Hey, Katniss!’ in that... _way_ of his,” she moaned.  
  
“Oh,” Madge laughed. “How terrible of him to say ‘hi’ to you!”  
  
Katniss sat and pouted again. “Don’t do that. Don’t make me out to be the crazy one here.”  
  
“You are being kind of crazy about this.”

Katniss looked out their bedroom door across the hall. Clove and Cashmere’s bedroom door was tightly shut, for which she was grateful. As much as she appreciated the friendship of her sisters, she definitely could do without them gossiping about yet another ‘Katniss blow up.’ She had become quite infamous for them.  
  
“Look,” Madge started. Katniss turned her head back to focus on her, hating her placating tone. “It’s no secret anymore that you don’t like him. Finnick made quick work of that one.”  
  
Katniss rolled her eyes. It was true - Finnick took to gossip like a fish to water. And considering he was a champion swimmer, the little tidbit about her extreme dislike for Peeta had spread through the Greek community like wildfire.  
  
“But he kept his promise not to bug you about it,” Madge continued. “Kept it all last semester. It’s not his fault you two ended up in the same class together.” She paused only for a moment at the skeptical look in Katniss’ eyes. “Maybe he was just glad to have someone he recognized in a class like that?”  
  
“More likely glad to have me in a place where I can’t straight out yell at him,” Katniss muttered.  
  
Madge sighed and turned back to organizing her planner. “Besides,” she continued, picking up her sparkly green pen. “He could very well drop before next class. He is a creative writing major... A World War II seminar might be a bit much for him.”  
  
Tilting her head to the side, Katniss pondered the thought. It _was_ very possible. The class wasn’t looking to be an easy one - certainly not one of those pansy writing classes Peeta was likely used to. He had put forth some obvious ass-kissing about ‘watching for an opening.’ But she was sure she’d caught a minor look of panic on his face as Paylor had continued on about what she expected out of the class, during one of the times Katniss had forgotten she wasn’t supposed to be looking at him.  
  
It was something to cling to, at least.  
  
\----  
  
She arrived at her seminar class the next week to find Peeta already there, taking up the same spot he had during the first class.  
  
“Fuck, you didn’t drop?” Katniss whined, letting her arm flop down by her side as she stepped out of the way of the closing door. They were the only two in the room.  
  
Peeta glanced up from the doodle he was working on in his notebook. “Were you hoping I would?” he smirked. “Praying to all the gods you know that Peeta Mellark would simply drop out of the one class he shares with you?”  
  
Katniss scowled. “I’m not justifying that with an answer.” She moved to walk past him in annoyance, determined to get as far away from him as the classroom allowed. But she only made it up to next to his desk before she stopped.  
  
“No,” she stated determinedly.  
  
Peeta watched her with amused curiosity. “No?”  
  
She looked down, giving him a quick nod. “No. I won’t let you win this one.” Katniss turned on her heels and took the few steps back to the seat she’d claimed in the previous class. With a dramatic show of grace, she lowered herself down into the chair. She flashed Peeta a triumphant smirk.  
  
“This is my seat.”  
  
He tapped the back of his chair with his pen. “And this is mine.”  
  
“Fine,” Katniss sniffed, going about getting her laptop setup for class. She tried to make it clear she was done talking to him, clicking randomly around her screen so it seemed like she was busy. Peeta returned to his doodle, apparently as done with their conversation as she was.  
  
Only Katniss found she kept glancing over the top of her computer screen at him. He was sitting sideways in his seat again, his notebook sitting on his lap as his pen scratched across the paper. She took in the blonde curls that fell into his eyes, a color she had a hard time qualifying as any specific shade of blue. Her own eyes traveled downward, over his nose peppered with freckles, down to his full, pale pink lips.  
  
The remark about his looks to Finnick all those months ago hadn’t been a lie. Peeta certainly was handsome. Even she wasn’t so stubborn as to not recognize that. But it had never been all about looks for Katniss. She didn’t like a guy that slept his way through every sorority house on campus. She could count on one hand the number of girls she was certain hadn’t slept with him - including herself.  
  
Still, those lips did look deliciously kissable.  
  
“You’re staring.” Peeta whispered loudly, the lips she was so focused on curling upwards.  
  
She jerked in surprise, and then blushed at having been caught.  
  
“Why are you even still here?” Katniss blurted. “You’re not even a history major.”

Peeta’s eyebrows raised in surprise and Katniss’ blush deepened as she realized what she’d just given away.  
  
“Madge told me...” she mumbled.  
  
He looked at her, that damn smirk still plastered across his lips. “I’ve got a thing for history,” he shrugged. “I wasn’t kidding about waiting for a spot to open.”  
  
Peeta gave her a curious look before dropping his pen. He crossed his arms along the edge of her desk, pushing her laptop closer to her. “What was your major again?”  
  
Katniss pushed on the edge of her laptop roughly, smashing Peeta’s arms between it and his chair. He let out a brief shout before pulling his arms away from her desk. The aggravated look on his face as he rubbed them brought a feeling of joy to Katniss. It was nice to see she could wipe that smirk off his face.  
  
“My seat,” she reiterated proudly.  
  
Sneering at her, Peeta snatched up his pen and turned his focus back to his notebook.  
  
It was only a few minutes later that another student joined, followed shortly by another, and then another. It wasn’t long before the classroom was full of people and chatter. Gale came rushing in right before Paylor, and Katniss waved a little hello at him as he took his seat, not catching the quick glance it earned from Peeta.  
  
“So you all are the brave souls who’ve decided to stick this one out,” Paylor grinned. At the nods and murmurs of agreement, she gave them an excited thumbs up. “Excellent! I took the opportunity to see who was still around this weekend so I knew just what to do with the project pairings.”  
  
Katniss sat up a little at her words, frowning. She’d looked over the syllabus several times since joining the class, including when she’d copied down the schedule into her planner. She hadn’t missed the part about having to do the big class project with a partner, but she didn’t remember there being anything about Paylor picking the groups.  
  
She raised her hand, oblivious of what Paylor had been saying. The professor stopped talking and nodded at Katniss.  
  
“We don’t get to choose our own partners?”  
  
Paylor shook her head. She grinned at the poorly concealed look that passed across Katniss’ face. “Does that make you nervous?”  
  
Katniss shrank a bit in her chair, realizing all eyes in the room were suddenly on her. She could practically feel the gaze from the blue eyes right in front of her. “Well..uh..no...”  
  
“As I was trying to say,” Paylor cut off Katniss’ embarrassed babbling. “I made the decision to choose your partners for you.” She moved to her bag on the table behind the podium. Unsnapping the clasps, she flipped the cover flap open and fished out a piece of paper. Her brown eyes glanced up to Katniss. “As a way for you to get to know someone in this class in a way you probably wouldn’t do otherwise.”  
  
Paylor stepped back up to the podium and placed the paper down. She gripped the sides of the wooden podium. “I feel it’s a good way to harbor trust in somebody you don’t know,” she announced to the class. “To build a bond, if you will. Much like how the soldiers in World War II had to build a bond with each other, despite knowing next to nil about hardly anyone they served alongside, when they were first dropped into their respective overseas hellholes.”  
  
It was hard for Katniss to resist the urge to roll her eyes at the analogy. Gale’s comment the week before about Paylor being a ‘nut’ for World War II was making more sense already. She glanced over her shoulder at Gale while Paylor continued off on her tangent about the brotherhood of serving in the armed forces. She’d only met him last week, but Katniss was hoping he would be her partner. They’d even hinted at it to each other during their chat after last class, right before Peeta had literally come between them.  
  
“Okay, before I get too far down _that_ rabbit hole,” Paylor exclaimed loudly, causing Katniss to jump and look back to her. “Let’s partner you guys up, huh?”  
  
Warily, Katniss glanced around the room. All of her fellow students were doing the same. There were sixteen of them, since Paylor had pulled some strings to get the people who didn’t fit into the limit added to the class. Best case scenario would be Gale - he was friendly and funny, as well as being an actual history major. She was sure the majority of her classmates were history majors, but Gale was the only one she had talked to. Worst case scenario?  
  
She looked to Peeta briefly. He was focused on Paylor, who was saying something about her process for choosing pairs. Katniss knew the odds of getting paired up with him were slim. There were fourteen other possible people she could end up partnered with.  
  
But as Paylor started to read the names of the pairings, Katniss felt her anxiety rise. Her name didn’t get called, and neither did Peeta’s. Half the class was already paired up before she could blink, Gale’s name amongst the people already announced.  
  
There was still some slim hope that she wouldn’t be- “Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark,” Paylor announced, nodding in their direction.  
  
Shit.  
  
\----  
  
To say things were rough between her and Peeta would be putting it mildly. It had been a month since they were partnered up for their World War II project. For the sake of their grades, they had been trying to work amicably and complete all of their weekly assignments that helped build the research and body of their project.  
  
But it seemed spending time with Peeta on a regular basis, due to the project and their Greek obligations, was only strengthening Katniss’ dislike for him. He was constantly getting text messages from girls, many of whom were her Alpha Chi sisters, and leaving her alone for long periods during their ‘mutual research time’.  
  
Peeta, for his part, didn’t seem to be taking too kindly to her constant remarks about it. He’d made it clear he wasn’t too fond of working with someone that didn’t like him at all.  
  
They were sitting in Strozier for what seemed like the millionth time that week, a tense silence falling between them as they went about researching and re-researching all the information they’d gathered about the World War II battle their report would cover.  
  
“Sending you an e-mail,” Katniss mumbled, not bothering to look up from her laptop screen.  
  
Peeta nodded regardless. He heard the ping from his school inbox, and clicked over to the tab to open the email. He only read the first few paragraphs before he made a low growl in the back of his throat.  
  
“No...” he barked quietly. “None of this is right.”  
  
Grey eyes finally looked up into his fuming blue. “What do you mean?”  
  
“I mean,” Peeta flew up from his chair, stomping around the table and jerking her laptop over so he could see the screen.  
  
“This, this, and this...” He jabbed at various places on the screen. “Are all wrong.” He turned a glare on her. “You’re getting your research mixed up.”  
  
Katniss yanked her laptop back in front of her. “Don’t put this on me!” she whispered harshly, eyes following Peeta as returned to his chair. “You’re telling me to research information without giving me any goddamn context. You won’t show me what you’ve found, and yet you expect me to find information to back it up!”  
  
“You can’t even get the fucking dates right!” Peeta bit back. “This is _history_ , Katniss! The dates _have_ to be right!”  
  
“Don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot!”  
  
“Then don’t live up to the ditsy sorostitute stereotype!” Peeta snapped, slamming his laptop closed. If the stares their little spat had been gaining were subtle before, they were downright blatant at his too-loud remark.  
  
Katniss dropped her gaze, hating how his words stung in a way she never would have thought they could. She didn’t care what Peeta Mellark did or said - she hated him. So why did it hurt so much?  
  
Peeta closed his eyes, pulling in a deep breath. He opened his mouth to let it out on a loud sigh, suddenly springing up from his seat again. “Come on,” he muttered to Katniss, going about packing up all their stuff.  
  
“What?” Katniss questioned in surprise, furrowing her brow as she glanced up at him sharply.  
  
Shutting her laptop, he picked it up and held it out to her. “We’re getting out of here.”  
  
She stared at him for a few moments, then glanced around. Many people had seemed to go back to their own work, but she knew all of them were listening to what was happening between her and Peeta.  
  
“Yeah, okay.” Katniss took her laptop, shoving it in her bag. She gathered up the remaining papers and shoved those in as well. Slinging the bag over her shoulder, she gestured for Peeta to start walking with a sweep of her hand.  
  
They made it downstairs and outside the library before Katniss felt the need to say more.  
  
“If you think I’m going to follow you without question,” she announced from the top of the steps that led into Strozier. Peeta turned to face her from his spot at the bottom. “You’re wrong.”  
  
He pointed at the library. “I can’t be in that place another minute. I’m going to lose my shit.”  
  
Katniss raised her eyebrows. “Going to?” His look grew exasperated at her words and she shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll e-mail you some more fucked up research later.” She turned and started to make her way in the opposite direction of where he was going.  
  
“This isn’t working!” Peeta called out to her. Katniss stumbled to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, slowly turning to frown at him across the expanse she had just crossed. People shot them looks as they made their way in and out of the library.  
  
“This ‘let’s meet up on campus and do some research’ bullshit isn’t cutting it,” Peeta walked towards her slowly. “We’re getting nowhere with it because it doesn’t mean anything.”  
  
Katniss’ frown only deepened. “I don’t understand...”  
  
Peeta was standing right before her now. “Us,” he gestured between them with his right index finger. “There’s nothing but animosity between you and me, so nothing good can grow here.”  
  
She couldn’t stop the groan that broke free. “Enough with this poetic shit, Mellark.”

“Trust,” Peeta clarified. “Paylor talked about it when she paired everyone up. This is supposed to be a project to build trust, and we don’t have it.” He pointed back at the library. “And we’re certainly not going to get it sitting in there.”  
  
Slouching, Katniss looked at him curiously. “Then how do you suggest we build this,” she licked her lips hesitantly. “Trust?”

“We start by getting the hell off campus.” Peeta took her by the hand, pulling her back across the length of the stairway. Katniss tugged her hand out of his grasp, but continued to trudge along behind him as he moved determinedly away from Strozier.  
  
\----  
  
“I have no clue what Finn’s been up to all day, so it’d be safe to expect anything,” Peeta told her over his shoulder, fishing his keys out of his backpack.  
  
Katniss followed him up the stairs to the apartment he shared with Finnick. Since the two were brothers in Kappa Sigma, they lived in the Heritage Grove apartments off campus. She had never actually been in one of the apartments, despite having been to the complex several times for Greek functions. Even being friends with Finnick had never been enough to get her inside his place.  
  
Never in a million years did she ever think she would be willingly following Peeta Mellark into it. But he had been right, as much as it pained her to even think about. They needed to build up some sort of trust between them if they hoped to get close to decent grade on their project.  
  
Peeta slipped the key in the lock, turning it and pushing the door open. He flattened back against the door, allowing Katniss to walk past him. She took in the space he shared with Finnick Odair. It was decorated as she would expect from two frat guys - the walls seemed to bleed garnet and gold as much as the two guys that lived between them.  
  
“We, uh...” Peeta stepped up beside her after he eased the door closed. “We take our school pride very seriously.”  
  
She slowly turned her head to look at him with wide eyes. “Couldn’t tell that at all!”  
  
He smiled, the first genuine one she’d seen out of him in a while. “Alright, smartass.” He moved deeper into the room, setting his backpack down onto the coffee table. “Feel free to put your stuff down anywhere - we certainly do.”  
  
“Couldn’t tell that, either,” Katniss said as she stepped over an errant pair of pants lying across the floor. Peeta gave her a mock glare, still smiling. She placed her bag down on the floor by the table, moving in a circle to really take in the wall-decor. In her examination of school memorabilia, she spotted one of the bedroom doors.  
  
“Is this your room?” Katniss asked, pointing in the direction of the door that was slightly ajar. She stepped over to it, glancing towards the kitchen where Peeta had moved to.  
  
He popped his head up from where he was looking through one of the lower cabinets. “Yeah. Go on in, if you want.”  
  
Katniss pushed open the door and took in the place that was all Peeta’s. It was far less cluttered than the living room, with a small assortment of movie posters taped up across his walls. His closet was spilling close by, his desk littered with various things for his frat and his classes. She eyed his neatly made bed warily, as thoughts of all the girls he’d likely had in it flashed through her mind.  
  
“Sorry it doesn’t quite live up to the standards of a spawn of all evil,” Peeta joked from the doorway. Katniss turned to give him an indignant look, but her eyes narrowed in on the whiskey bottle and shot glasses he was holding.  
  
He saw the skepticism in her eyes. “I figured this would help loosen us up a bit.”  
  
Katniss made a disbelieving face. “Right. I bet you figured getting me drunk would loosen a lot of things up.” She stormed past him, snatching up her bag as she made her way towards the door.  
  
“Katniss, no!” Peeta quickly followed her. “I didn’t mean it like that!”  
  
She angrily pulled on his front door, but stood there holding it open. She refused to look at him, but there was a hint of something in his voice that made her stop.  
  
“I just thought...” Peeta suddenly sounded nervous, something she wasn’t used to in the slightest. “The last time we sort of got along, we’d been drinking and... I thought...” he sighed. “You know what, you’re right. This was a bad idea. I’m sorry...you can go if you want.”  
  
Katniss looked over to him. Peeta had turned back to the coffee table. He placed the shot glasses down, but didn’t set the bottle down with them. Instead, he twisted off the top and chucked it at the couch.  
  
“Figures,” he mumbled to himself, though Katniss heard it clear as day. Peeta brought the bottle to his lips and took a deep drink. She felt the guilt hit her hard.  
  
Gently closing the door, Katniss stepped over to Peeta and lowered the bottle from his lips. He looked a bit uncomfortable from having chugged a good bit of it, but also surprised to see her standing beside him.  
  
“This isn’t a frat party, Mellark.” She took the whiskey from him, sliding her bag off her shoulder and onto the floor. She brought the bottle up, taking a small sip. “You don’t have to go balls to the wall.”  
  
Peeta smiled softly, relief evident in his blue eyes.  
  
\----  
  
“Oh fuck, you were right,” Katniss moaned dramatically, slapping at Peeta’s knee. They were seated on the floor of his living room, their backs to his couch.  
  
He looked up from the tower he was attempting to build out of their notes and various things that had been scattered around the table. “Right about what?”  
  
Katniss thrust a paper in his face. “The dates thing!”  
  
Peeta grabbed the paper, blinking a couple of times so he could focus a little better on her messy handwriting. “I don’t...” He tried to skim, but the words were blurry and... “Oh my God!” he snorted, dropping the paper onto the table, bringing his forehead down to rest on top of it.  
  
“Pretty sure...” he giggled out, “That World War II happened _after_ the American Civil War.”

She giggled along with him. “I don’t know... 1843 seems pretty legit.”  
  
Peeta sat back, taking up the nearly empty bottle of whiskey as he went. “That’s...” he paused in bringing the bottle to his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut as he laughed harder. “Oh, God.”  
  
Watching him, Katniss couldn’t help the smile that came to her. She’d never seen him like this - laughing, truly carefree, and being silly. Sure, she’d seen him drunk before. Plenty of times, actually. But it had always come with a level of cockiness that always made her sick.  
  
This was Peeta at home, letting loose...and doing so with her. Before she could dwell on that amazing fact, her mind brought up the question of how many girls he’d done this with. How many he’d hung out with and gotten drunk with...and then slept with.  
  
Thanks to the amount of whiskey from the bottle he was still clinging to that was actually inside her, Katniss couldn’t stop her mouth from voicing her thoughts.  
  
“Do you do this with all of them?”  
  
Peeta’s laughing eased. “All of whom?” he questioned as his giggles tapered off.  
  
Katniss blinked, surprised at the ‘whom’ before she remembered he was a Creative Writing major. “The girls...” Peeta looked at her with a small frown. “You know, all the ones you...” she trailed off, pointing towards his bedroom.  
  
Peeta glanced from her to his bedroom. Understanding slowly dawned on him, and she watched his frown grow more intense.  
  
He looked backed to her. “You really think I’m like that, don’t you?”  
  
Feeling very self-conscious all of sudden, Katniss dropped her attention to her hands fiddling in her lap. “I know things, Peeta. Sorority girls talk... a lot.” She looked back to him. “You know that.”  
  
Peeta made a face of acknowledgement.  
  
“My sisters... and actives from other houses... they’ve all said things about you.” Katniss could feel the guilt growing with each passing word, watching his face grow more and more dejected right along with it.  
  
“Wow.” Peeta set the bottle down on the table. “Wow.”

He picked at the edge of the wood. “I know I have a reputation, and I knew that’s why you’ve hated me for so long...” Peeta shook his head, looking away towards the kitchen.  
  
Katniss slouched against the couch, the guilt physically weighing her down. She didn’t know why this was hurting her so badly. She’d never felt bad about expressing her feelings about Peeta to anyone, including Peeta. So why, in that particular moment, did it make her feel like shit? “Peeta, I-”  
  
“I’m not like what you think,” he whipped his head back around, a determined look to his gaze.  
  
“You haven’t slept your way through half of the female Greek community?” Katniss asked incredulously. She knew rumors spread, but the odds of it all being a fabrication over such a long and continuous period of time...  
  
Peeta scrunched up his nose and shook his head. “No, I have...”  
  
Katniss frowned, holding out her hand to him.  
  
He shifted so he was facing her fully. “I’ve _slept_ with them. As in sleep.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Katniss laughed. “Finally get a chance to explain yourself, and _that’s_ the bullshit you come up with?!”  
  
“It’s not bullshit,” he muttered with aggravation. “It’s the truth.”  
  
Katniss glared at him. “Then why all this ‘sensational fuck’ hype that I’ve heard my sisters rave about?”  
  
Peeta blushed, looking down to his lap. He sat there staring at his hands for several minutes before pulling in a deep breath.  
  
“You know my family has been Kappa Sigma for generations, right?” he finally said, looking up at her. She nodded. “Well, the Mellark reputation is something that’s built up over the years. My two older brothers were _especially_ notorious in that department.”  
  
Katniss thought about that for a moment. It was true - she’d at least heard stories about Rye Mellark, who had been at their school when they’d started. She hadn’t known him personally, but when she’d been doing her own recruitment, she’d certainly been told many things.  
  
“I’ve never been that type of guy, though,” Peeta continued. “I don’t... I like relationships, of all kinds. Friendships and romance and...” He looked to the whiskey bottle on the table. “But I had a reputation to uphold here. It was one thing to pledge Kappa Sigma and make it.” She couldn’t help rolling her eyes at that. Of course he was going to make it in the frat – he was a legacy and his family had ties out the ass.  
  
“Between girls wanting to say they’d been a part of the Mellark carousel, and my brother working his charm, it got around quick that I was,” Peeta swallowed thickly, “A ‘sensational fuck’, as you put it.”  
  
His blue eyes found her grey. “Most of the girls who claim we’ve fucked? We really just slept together. I can get very, _very_ cuddly, especially when I’m drunk,” he shrugged. “That way, they get to say they’ve slept with a Mellark, and I can uphold the spectacular family reputation.”  
  
Katniss stared at him intensely for a moment before something he’d said dawned on her. “Most of the girls?”  
  
He rolled his eyes. “Do you really think I’ve gone all this time without knocking boots with a few?” Peeta smirked. “I _am_ still a Mellark, after all.”  
  
She continued to stare at him, taking in everything he’d just said. She thought about every time she had seen him with a girl while out at a club or at a party. He had been close with all of them, holding hands and other touchy-feely sorts of things. There had even been a few heated kisses here and there. And, of course, she was well aware of the times he’d made one of her sisters’ beds his home for the night after mixers. Then there were all the texts and calls he would get.  
  
But she’d never heard in great detail exactly what he was like in bed, now that she was thinking about it. Just that it was fantastic. For the level of gossip her sisters went to, they never went into great detail about the actual sex with Peeta Mellark.  
  
Katniss suddenly understood that she’d bought into the ruse just like she was supposed to. Only she’d taken the opposite road as everyone else and ended up hating him for it.  
  
“Katniss?” Peeta questioned tentatively.  
  
She blinked, realizing she had zoned out while thinking. Peeta was watching her with uncertainty.  
  
“Peeta Mellark...” Katniss sighed dramatically. “Did you seriously just say ‘knocking boots’?”  
  
Peeta barked out a relieved laugh, picking the bottle back up and taking a calming swig.  
Katniss smiled, reaching out and touching his knee.  
  
He placed his free hand on top of hers, giving it a playful squeeze.  
  
\----  
  
Katniss was spread across her bed on her stomach, feet in the air and biology notecards all around her. She had a big test in Animal Behavior on Monday, and had been studying all day. She also planned to spend the majority of her weekend studying and doing what she could for the World War II project.  
  
But her attention wasn’t on her school work. It was glued to the phone in front of her, on the very heated battle of Hanging With Friends she was currently engaged in with Peeta.  
  
She tapped out her word, feeling rather cheeky with her selection. She didn’t have to bother with putting her phone down because she knew he’d be responding right away. It didn’t take him long to figure out the word.  
  
A text message popped up a second later.  
  
 _‘Player? Really?’_

_‘It’s a fair word, Mellark.’_  
  
 _‘You just like being a bitch.’_  
  
Katniss grinned. That much was true. Since that night at his apartment a month ago, they had developed a surprisingly good friendship. It had done wonders for their research. They were now able to sit in the same room together and pretend to get work done while they really just fucked off instead. They’d found that their favorite thing to do together was hang out on Saturday nights after partying, watching Toonami and trying to make some drunken sense out of the anime.  
  
Of course, none of it meant she still didn’t give him shit about his reputation.  
  
Her phone pinged with another message from Peeta.  
  
 _‘Please tell me you’ve realized how wrong you are and will be coming out tonight!’_  
  
She sighed. He had been hounding her about going out all week, despite the number of times she’d told him she had to study for her upcoming exam.  
  
 _‘My need to study won’t go away just because you want it to.’_

_‘Fail the test then.’_

_‘Oh, sound advice from someone texting me in class.’_

‘ _Come on, Katniss. Let’s go out, get wasted, and snuggle in my sex-ridden bed. You know you want to...’_  
  
It was true. She did want to go out and have fun. But she couldn’t fail her exam.  
  
 _‘Sorry, pretty boy. Find another sister to snuggle.’_  
  
 _‘You suck.’_  
  
 _‘Not you, I don’t.’_  
  
 _‘Oh, so who ARE you sucking, then?’_  
  
Katniss grinned, refusing to rise to that bait. She tossed her phone down beside her, trading it for a pile of flashcards. The smile wouldn’t leave her face, though, as she perused through the terms and definitions.  
  
“Who knew studying biology was so pleasant!” Madge teased as she came breezing into the room, tossing her stuff on her bed before flopping down after it.  
  
Katniss tried to hide her smile. “It’s not, really.  
  
Propping herself up her elbows, Madge grinned at Katniss. “So what could _possibly_ be making you smile _and_ blush like that?” She tapped her heels back against her mattress. “Could it maybe be your new best guy friend?”

“Maybe...” Katniss gave Madge a sheepish look out of the corner of her eye.  
  
Madge clapped triumphantly, springing off the bed and over to Katniss’ side of the room. She sat down on the floor beside her bed, crossing her legs and resting her arms on top of her spread out notecards.  
  
“You never actually told me why things changed between you two,” she whispered.  
  
Katniss snorted at her friend. “Did you stop at Chili’s for a few cocktails?” She could smell the alcohol on her breath.  
  
Madge pouted. “You know I had a big French exam today... I needed to relax after such a stressful thing.” She pushed Katniss’ arm with her hand. “Stop changing the subject. Give me deets!”  
  
Crossing her arms, Katniss rested her left cheek down on them so she could still look at Madge. “We just worked things out, that’s all. After a nasty little spat at Stroz, he took me to his apartment.” She ignored Madge’s suggestive eyebrow waggle and continued, “And we worked on our project in a nice, quiet, private place... with whiskey.”  
  
“Did you...you know...” Madge nudged Katniss’ elbow.  
  
“No!” Katniss made a face of mild distaste. “But we did talk about things, including him and his ‘reputation,’” she quoted with her fingers directly in front of Madge’s face.  
  
Letting out a sigh, Madge looked very relieved. “So...you know the whole story then?”  
  
Katniss nodded, humming an affirmative.  
  
“Oh, thank God!” Madge pushed herself away from Katniss’ bed, flinging out her arms as she fell back against the carpet. “It’s been so hard to not say anything! I knew you didn’t like him and that you would judge me if I told you!”  
  
Katniss pushed herself partway up. “What do you mean, ‘judge you?’” she questioned anxiously.  
  
Whether from relief or being a tad tipsy, Madge didn’t pick up on Katniss’ sudden discomfort. She laughed up to the ceiling, “For doing the dirty with Peeta.”

“ _You_ fucked Peeta?!” Katniss screeched, sitting up fully.  
  
Madge sat up just as quickly, giving Katniss a confused stare. “I thought you said he told you everything!”  
  
Standing, Katniss glared down at her friend. “He told me he’d only screwed a few girls. That it was nothing but drunken fun. He never fucking said _you,_ ” she pointed at Madge, “Were one of them!”  
  
She felt an ache in her chest, and started to pull air in through her nose in short breaths. She had to get out of there, right then.  
  
Katniss snatched up her phone from her bed and her jacket from the end post. She didn’t bother with anything, only caring about getting out of that room and out of the house.  
  
Madge shot up from the floor and raced out of their bedroom after her. “Katniss!” she pleaded loudly, gaining the attention of their entire house as they charged through the hall and down the stairs. She reached out and grabbed Katniss by the arm right before she yanked open the front door. “Please!”  
  
“Don’t fucking touch me!” Katniss spun around, shoving Madge away from her. “Just leave me the hell alone, okay!?”  
  
Standing frozen in her spot, Madge found she could only nod dumbly in response - though Katniss had already blown out the front door and didn’t see it.  
  
Katniss didn’t see much of anything as she made an angry trek down West Park towards Copeland. She barely stopped to check for traffic before jogging across Copeland, taking a sharp left up the sidewalk. She stomped past Westcott and the fountain, past Diffenbaugh.  
  
Katniss didn’t stop until she was standing in front of the Williams building. And even then, she didn’t really stop. She paced in front of the steps to the main entrance, chewing at her fingernails and fiddling with her phone. She wasn’t sure how long she stood there pacing, but eventually she spotted Peeta coming out of the lower entrance a few feet down the sidewalk.  
  
Striding purposely over to him, Katniss didn’t hesitate to pull her fist back and swing it hard at his face. Peeta jerked back, his hands flying up to cover his nose.  
  
“What the hell!” he mumbled through his fingers, glaring at Katniss with watering eyes.  
  
“You fucked my best friend!” she shouted at him, not caring who saw or heard.  
  
Peeta dropped his hands from his face. “Madge told you?!” he whispered harshly, trying to steer her away from the flow of student traffic with a hand on her arm.  
  
She tossed it off. “Of course she fucking told me! Because she thought you had told me when we had our,” her voice grew mocking, “Little heart to heart! But you didn’t!” She shoved him in the chest.  
  
Wrapping his hand around her wrist, Peeta stepped closer to her. “Katniss, you need to-”  
  
“I need to what?!” Katniss yanked her wrist free, stepping back from him a few paces. “Calm down?! Well, sorry to fuck up what the great goddamn Peeta Pussymagnet Mellark has planned!”  
  
Peeta looked pained, trying to move in close again. “Katniss, please...”  
  
“No! You don’t get to say please to me!” She stepped back further, pointing her finger at him. “You don’t get to say anything because you fucked my best friend and roommate, and neither of you told me! So you know what? You both can go fuck yourselves...or fuck each other... I don’t care anymore. I’m fucking done!”  
  
Katniss brushed by him, dodging all of the people who had stopped to watch her yell at Peeta. She heard him start to follow. She turned back, her dark hair whipping around her. “Don’t follow me.”  
  
Peeta held up his hands, swallowing thickly. He watched her turn where the sidewalk cut between Williams and Dodd, trudging her way down the sloped path.  
  
\----  
  
Her phone pressed to her ear, Katniss bounced her knee as she sat on a bench outside Ragans Hall. “Pick up, pick up, pick up...” she muttered desperately into the speaker.  
  
“Yo, bitch.” The snarky voice of her friend Johanna Mason on the other end of the line filled her with instant relief. “Thought you were holed up reading weird animals’ names and shit.”  
  
“I was,” Katniss said simply.  
  
As she expected, Johanna picked up on the distress in her voice. “Hey, what’s up?”  
  
Katniss closed her eyes, fighting the oncoming threat of tears. “I’m outside.”  
  
“I’ll be right down.”  
  
It was not even a minute after she had hung up with her that Johanna was coming out of the glass door to her building. Katniss pushed up from the bench, walking straight into the usually brash girl’s open arms. The hug was like a vice, squeezing the tears out of her.  
  
She cried for a few minutes, her face pressed against Johanna’s shoulder. When she felt she’d gotten most of it out of her system, Katniss pulled back to glance at her. There was understanding in her brown eyes, but a smirk on her lips.  
  
“Come on, snot nose.” Johanna brushed Katniss’ bangs back. “I’ve got a whole bottle of vodka with your name on it.”  
  
\-----  
  
Katniss really loved Johanna. She was fierce and flashy and didn’t take bullshit from anyone. The two had met in their Animal Diversity lab and had become friends, making fun of all the other people in the class. Johanna wasn’t in a sorority, and it was always refreshing to spend time away from her Greek world with someone who mocked it every chance she got.  
  
Plus, Johanna had the best cheap booze around.  
  
Tipping her cup back, Katniss swallowed the remainder of her...whatever Johanna had made her this time. She’d lost count on how many she’d had, and certainly didn’t care to remember what each one of them was. All that mattered was she was feeling _much_ better than she had when she’d arrived.  
  
“Okay, get your skinny ass in here!” Johanna bellowed from the bedroom to the far left.  
  
Katniss pushed off the stool at the kitchen counter, clumsily making her way into the other room. It was a mess of clothes scattered all over.  
  
“Hurricane Forever 21!” Katniss giggled.  
  
“Yeah, yeah...come here, drunkie.” Johanna yanked her over towards the bed where she’d laid out three distinct outfits. “Pick the one that makes you look the most fuckable.”  
  
Frowning, Katniss poked a finger at a sparkly sheer top. “Do I wanna look fuckable?”  
  
“Well, duh.” Johanna grabbed the shirt Katniss was messing with and shoved it in her hand. “You wanna look so fuckable that the hottest guy you run into tonight wants to bang your brains out in the dingy bathroom. Stick it right to your douchebro frat boytoy!”  
  
Katniss stumbled past Johanna, making her way around to the sink area on the other side of the wall. “He’s not my boytoy...” She pulled her t-shirt over her head and tossed it in the general direction of Johanna’s room across from her. “He’s a fucking asshole.” She yanked the new shirt on, tilting her head to the side as she examined her reflection in the mirror. “You’re sure your roommate won’t mind if I wear this?”  
  
Johanna popped her head out to glance at her. “Dude, my roommate would consider it a travesty it you _didn’t_ wear it.”  
  
“Why am I going out again?” Katniss whined, moving back out to the kitchen. She took up her cup, moving around the counter to grab the vodka. She poured herself a generous amount, topping off the cup with Sprite. “Why can’t I just get shitfaced here?”  
  
She was deep into her cup when Johanna finally came out to the kitchen. “Because you need to go out and have fun and get wastey-faced on a fucking dance floor, that’s why!”  
  
Katniss watched her pour a shot of straight vodka for herself. She shrugged in compliance, downing the rest of her own drink.  
  
\----  
  
She didn’t know what club she was in, or what drink was in her cup. She could barely make out the music she was bouncing around to, as the world around her was whirling so much. She knew she was wasted, but she didn’t care. Johanna had said this was the goal, and Katniss felt proud to have achieved it.  
  
She laughed loudly, spinning around carelessly. It didn’t take her long to lose her balance and end up planted on her ass on the wet, sticky dance floor. But still, Katniss continued to laugh, guzzling down more of her drink.  
  
That was until somebody snatched it out of her hand.  
  
“That’s enough.”  
  
Even in her drunken euphoria, she recognized the stern voice. “Go fuck yourself.”  
  
A pair of hands grabbed her under her arms and easily pulled her upwards. “Was that even English?”  
  
She felt her arm being pulled around a firm torso, but couldn’t bring herself to fight it. Instead, she leaned heavily against her new helper. “You would know... since you’re such a _cunning linguist_.”  
  
“Original joke, Everdeen,” Peeta muttered, easing her off the dance floor and towards the exit at the back. “Fuck, how am I getting you down these stairs?” he said as they reached the two-part staircase that connected the lower level of AJ’s to the top.  
  
“How about you let me go back to the dance floor where I want to be?” Katniss snapped...or tried to. She wasn’t exactly sure whether her words were coming out clearly or not.  
  
Gripping her tighter, Peeta slowly started to lead her down the steps. “And continue to watch you turn yourself into a stereotype for assholes to make fun of?” He held exceptionally tight when she lost her footing on one step. “I’d rather not.”  
  
They reached the landing at the bottom of the first stairwell. Before Peeta could get her moving down the second, a shout from above drew their attention upwards. At least Katniss tried to look up. But she stumbled when the world spun and Peeta crushed her against him.  
  
Johanna was charging down the steps. “What the fuck?!” She started to pull Katniss’ arm from around Peeta’s waist, and Katniss wondered if maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. “I go to the bar for two fucking minutes, and you’re running off with my friend?!”  
  
“She’s trashed.” Peeta held tight to Katniss’ arm around him. “And she needs to go home.”  
  
“Not with you she doesn’t.” Johanna began to pull again, and Peeta yanked back.  
  
The tug-of-war game was not something Katniss was overly fond of in that moment.  
  
“It’s him,” she mumbled loudly. “This is the....the....” Her head flopped against his shoulder.  
  
Johanna released Katniss’ arm, taking a step back. “You’re the frat douche?”  
  
Katniss could feel Peeta nod his head from where she rested against him. She waited for Johanna to rip into him, but to her surprise and dismay, it never came.  
  
“You’ll get her home okay?” she asked quietly instead.  
  
Katniss suddenly wanted to argue. She wanted to protest and pull away and go back to forgetting the night in her drinks. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t stop Peeta from saying he’d take care of her, or from leading her out of the bar and over to his truck.  
  
He flopped her against the side of the hood and stood directly in front of her, his arms boxing her in.  
  
“I’m going back in there,” she announced, glaring at him.  
  
“Good luck trying, considering the condition you’re in,” Peeta said with a raise of his eyebrow.  
  
“They don’t mind drunks in there - it’s a _bar_ ,” Katniss emphasized knowingly.  
  
Peeta shrugged. “They do if I pay them off not to let this drunk back inside.”  
  
“You’re an asshole.”  
  
“So you keep saying.”

Katniss scowled. “Because it’s true.”

“Then say it like you mean it.” Peeta looked at her expectantly, both eyebrows raised now. He watched her, waiting for her drunken retort.  
  
But she couldn’t make it come out, just as much as she hadn’t been able to pull away from him.  
  
“You fucked Madge,” she whispered instead, her eyes pooling with tears.  
  
Peeta’s look softened considerably. “I did.”  
  
“You didn’t tell me.”  
  
“I didn’t.”  
  
Katniss choked back a sob. “Do you...did it...”  
  
“No,” Peeta whispered emphatically. He brought one of his hands up to cup her cheek. “We were both drunk and horny. It happened, but it was one night of poor judgment between friends.”  
  
“I’m drunk.” Katniss sniffled, looking down at the designs on his shirt. “I don’t wanna be one of those girls.”  
  
He tilted her face back up. “You won’t be,” Peeta assured her gently before softly pressing his lips against hers. She sighed, closing her eyes and letting the feeling take hold as it rushed over her. It was warm and foreign. Like a heat rising up inside her...  
  
Katniss broke her lips away abruptly, throwing up all over the designs of his shirt she’d just been staring at.  
  
\----  
  
“Oh God, I’m sorry,” Katniss repeated for what was likely the millionth time. “I’m so, so sorry.”  
  
Peeta laughed lightly, kneeling down in front of her curled up in his bed. He brushed his fingers through her damp hair, “I told you, it’s okay.” He smiled at her. “You think that’s the first time I’ve ever been yakked on by a sorority girl?”  
  
Groaning, Katniss buried her face in his pillow. After she had proceeded to upchuck all down the front of him, Peeta had helped her into his truck, where she continued vomiting into an empty Big Gulp cup. By the time they reached his apartment, she was sure that most of what she’d drank had come back up already. Though by the time Peeta had gotten her inside and into the bathroom, she was puking some more. It didn’t stop even when he eased her into the shower and was helping to rinse her off. The first time Peeta had seen her naked, and she’d been the sprawling, drunk girl spewing all over his shower.  
  
By the time they were both sure she was clean enough, it had thankfully stopped. She had managed to slide on the shirt he’d given her and made it to his bed of her own accord, feeling much more sober after her exorcism re-enactment.  
  
Which only made her level of mortification that much higher.  
  
“I ruined our first kiss,” she whined.  
  
Peeta stopped brushing his fingers through her hair. “Does that mean...” She turned her head and opened her eyes to find him looking at her hopefully. “You plan for there to be more?”  
  
Despite the shame she still felt from that night, Katniss leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. He welcomed the kiss, allowing her to part his lips with her tongue and push hers inside his mouth. They stayed kissing for several long moments before Katniss slowly pulled away.  
  
“Wow...” Peeta sighed, a bright smile coming to him unchecked. “So I can kiss a girl without getting puked on?”  
  
The euphoria from the kiss dissolved into humiliation. Katniss moaned and buried her face back into his pillow.  
  
Chuckling, Peeta rose up and placed a kiss into her hair. “Sorry...last joke.”  
  
“Yeah, right!” Katniss’ disbelieving response was muffled by the bedding.  
  
Peeta grinned, nodding in agreement even though she wasn’t looking at him. He eased the door to his room closed before unlatching his belt and the button on his jeans. Katniss lifted her head from his pillow to watch him. He slid the zipper down, sliding the jeans off a moment later.  
  
“Like what you see?” he winked at her.  
  
She bit her lip and nodded, then looked altogether sad. “Though I don’t think I can truly appreciate it right now.”  
  
When Peeta nodded this time, she did see it, though it was far more reluctant than the previous one had been. He flicked off the light switch by the door, plunging the room into darkness. Katniss closed her eyes, feeling the bed dip as he climbed over and settled in behind her.  
  
“It’s Saturday...” he stated, draping an arm over her hip. “You’ve got all day to recover and make it up to me.”  
  
She elbowed him. “Stop.”  
  
Peeta laughed lightly. “Sorry...” He nuzzled his nose against the side of her neck, placing little kisses there. “You know I didn’t mean it.”  
  
“Do I?”  
  
He hummed in affirmation, continuing his kissing.  
  
Katniss sighed, linking her fingers through his.  
  
“Hey?” Peeta whispered after he was through with his kisses and had settled down completely.  
  
“Hmmm?” she replied sleepily.  
  
“You’re in bed with me.”  
  
Katniss elbowed him again, but still smiled at his remark.  
  
\----  
  
She woke up curled against his chest, her nose pressed into the fabric of his t-shirt.  
  
Lifting her head away slightly, Katniss caught glimpses of the pale morning light from behind the curtain. It cast the room in an eerily, yet peaceful blue glow. She lifted her eyes up to take in Peeta’s sleeping face. Half of it was smushed into his pillow, with his mouth hanging open the slightest bit.  
  
Katniss smiled at how adorable he looked. She moved upwards as gently as she could manage, placing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. Peeta shifted, smacking his lips together. Feeling encouraged by it, Katniss moved her kisses across his jaw and down the side of his neck, much like he’d been giving her the night before.  
  
She felt the gentle rumble of quiet laughter work its way up from his chest. “Morning,” he murmured, his fingers brushing at her side.  
  
Katniss didn’t bother with a response. She continued to kiss and suck at his neck, moving with him when he shifted onto his back. Pulling one leg over him, she straddled his lap. Peeta angled his head back to give her mouth better access. He let out a groan when she worked her hips, his hands gripping her sides as she rubbed herself against his growing erection.  
  
She kept at it, working at his neck with her mouth while moving her hips slowly and methodically, until Peeta grew impatient. Moving one hand around to her back, he used his other to push himself up and over. Katniss broke her lips away from his skin as her back hit the mattress. She gazed up at him, smiling as she pulled in air through her mouth.  
  
Peeta’s gaze traveled from her eyes down to her parted lips. He moved his hand from her back to her shoulder, brushing his thumb along her collarbone. Leaning in, he pressed his lips to hers, plunging his tongue deep into her warm mouth. It was only moments later when Katniss felt the fingers of his free hand intimately brushing against her over the fabric of her panties.  
  
She moaned into his mouth, thrusting her hips. Peeta broke away from their kiss, chuckling.  
  
“Oh, you want more of that?” he asked coyly, his fingers ghosting lightly over her again.  
  
Katniss squirmed. “Don’t be a fucking tease, Mellark.”  
  
Peeta let out a breathy laugh. “You know I love to,” he crooned, pushing her panties to the side and slowly stroking his finger over her. “Drive you crazy.”  
  
“Peeta...” she mewled.  
  
Pushing his finger inside of her, Peeta felt his cock twitch as she jerked a fraction. He swallowed, watching her gasp and arch her back as he first worked one finger, and then two, in and out of her.  
  
Katniss whimpered and panted as Peeta’s ministrations became faster and more purposeful. She moaned again as he began to rub his thumb against her clit. Pressing her hand against his firm abdomen, she grew more and more vocal as he built her up towards release.  
  
She gasped loudly as it finally hit, sending a pleasurable rush pulsating through her. She rode her way through her orgasm, stroking her fingers along Peeta’s stomach as it ebbed.

“Sensational?” Peeta teased, watching her come down from her pleasurable high.  
  
Katniss laughed breathlessly, opening her eyes partly to smile up at him. “You haven’t fucked me yet.”  
  
He leaned in to kiss her. “Working up to that, sweetheart.” He shifted so that he was on top of her, propping himself up on one arm.  
  
She frowned playfully. “What did I tell you about calling me that?” she asked as Peeta reached over to open the drawer to his nightstand, pulling out a condom from the box nestled just inside.  
  
Tearing the wrapper with his teeth, he went through the motions of getting it out and rolling it on himself. “I’m curious,” Peeta grinned down at her when he was finished, completely ignoring what she’d said.  
  
Katniss gave him a curious look.  
  
“Are you just as much of a _firecracker_ in bed?” He slid himself inside her, causing her to gasp and arch against him. Something sparked in her grey eyes, and Katniss flexed her pelvic muscles.  
  
His eyes fluttered closed and he worked his hips so that his dick thrust out and in again. Katniss moaned, digging her nails into his arms where she was gripping him tightly. Peeta started into a rhythm, rocking into her slowly and methodically.  
  
She started to move her hips to meet his with each thrust, refusing to give him all the power. Soon, the pace he had set wasn’t enough and he began to thrust harder and faster. As his intensity increased, so did Katniss’ gasps and groans.  
  
Before long, Katniss was near screaming, and Peeta panting erratically. He felt her explode around him, her pleasured sigh driving him over the edge. He groaned as he came, burying his face against her neck.  
  
He rested there for a couple moments, pressing his lips to her skin in lethargic kisses. When he was sure he wouldn’t collapse on top of her completely, he pulled out and disposed of the used condom. Then he settled down against her, using her chest as a pillow.  
  
“Was that explosive enough for you?” Katniss whispered, carding her fingers in his sweaty curls.  
  
Peeta smiled, burying his nose in the fabric of the t-shirt she wore. He hadn’t even bothered to take it off in their haste to have sex.  
  
“I don’t know...” He shifted so he was gazing up at her. “Was my dick as magical as rumor says?”  
  
She made a face, gesturing vaguely with her free hand. “It was okay.”  
  
Peeta squinted, poking at her side. “Now who’s being an asshole?”  
  
Smirking, Katniss slid down so they were at the same level. She leaned in and kissed him sweetly.  
  
“The rumors don’t do you justice,” she said as she pulled back.  
  
Peeta grinned before once again taking her lips in a more heated kiss.  
  
\----  
  
Fresh from a long, eventful shower, Katniss made her way out into Peeta’s living room. He had already dressed and headed into the kitchen, intent on making her his famous hangover breakfast. She’d told him he’d pounded what little hangover she’d woken up with out of her with his dick, but Peeta had insisted on cooking anyways.  
  
He glanced up at her when she stepped into the room. “You look beautiful.”  
  
“You mean thoroughly fucked,” Katniss smirked at him, working her hair into its usual braid. He gave her a cheeky grin in response. She threw herself down onto his couch, tucking her feet underneath her. She spotted her cell phone sitting on the coffee table and reached for it.  
  
She had just settled back and started to unlock it when Finnick emerged from his room.  
  
“Well, if it isn’t Linda Blair!” he laughed, moving past her to collapse on the cushions beside her.  
  
Katniss snorted at the remark, “Yeah, yeah.” She looked up from her phone into his smirking face. “I puked a lot last night.”  
  
Finnick made a disbelieving sound. “Please... you were fucking wrecked!”  
  
“I wasn’t _that_ bad once I got here!” Katniss defended.

Collapsing back against the cushions, Finnick started to moan dramatically. “I’m dying! Somebody kill me, I’m _dying!_ ” He clutched at his stomach and pretended to throw up onto the carpet.  
  
“That’s not true!” Katniss glared at him before glancing up at Peeta, who was grinning at his roommate’s antics. “Tell him that didn’t happen!”  
  
Peeta gave her a reluctant look. “You did sound pretty damn pathetic... and I did have to carry you up the stairs.”  
  
She slouched down against the couch, blushing fiercely. “I’m never drinking around you guys again,” she said, tapping at her phone childishly.  
  
“Oh yeah, right.” Finnick stopped his rendition of 'night before Katniss' and sat back up. “You know, that thing was blowing up half the night...” His tone had changed to something more akin to sympathy.  
  
Katniss understood why. Her message box was full of texts. One was from Johanna asking if she had made it through the night. Peeta had answered that one for her. But the others were all unanswered. They were from Madge.  
  
‘ _Please call me.’_  
  
 _‘Or text me.’_  
  
 _‘Katniss, I know you’re upset and I understand why. I want to talk with you about this.’_  
  
 _‘Katniss?’_

_‘Okay, I’ll leave you alone for a while. I know you and that’s probably what you need right now.’_  
  
She remembered those coming in, but not looking at them. She also remembered that she’d gotten several from Peeta, but it seemed he had already gone in and deleted those for her. She continued to scroll through the ones from her friend.  
  
 _‘I haven’t heard from you. Please tell me you’re okay?’_  
  
 _‘You didn’t do something stupid, did you?’_  
  
 _‘Katniss?!’_

_‘It’s after midnight now and still nothing. Please don’t be lying in a ditch somewhere.’_

_‘I know you’re mad at me, but please call me and tell me that you’re okay! Please!’_  
  
Katniss felt her eyes prick with the threat of tears. Even over simple text, she could feel Madge’s intense worry. She began to imagine the blonde, frantic and doing all she could to figure out where she’d gone and what she’d gotten herself into.  
  
She got to the last two messages. One had come in just before two in the morning.  
  
 _‘I just talked to Finnick. He said you’re okay and that you’re at his place. I guess you’re still too mad at me to talk to me...’_  
  
The other had come an hour later.  
  
 _‘I’m sorry.’_  
  
Dropping her phone to her lap, Katniss wiped at the tears that had spilled over. She looked up to find Finnick watching her silently, a frown on his face. Her gaze shifted up to the kitchen, where Peeta had stopped his food prep to watch as well.  
  
“Everything okay?” he asked. She could tell from his tone that he knew it wasn’t. She looked around the living room to avoid their eyes. She thought about the night before, how she’d made it her goal to forget everything and everyone. She had wanted to hurt them. And she had.  
  
But things had also been made right - at least between her and Peeta. He had proven that he cared about her enough to want to make it right. She had been able to forgive him so quickly. And she realized that in forgiving him, she had already forgiven Madge as well.  
  
“Put the food away,” Katniss said, grabbing her phone before standing up to look towards Peeta. “I need to go somewhere.”  
  
\----  
  
She could see Madge inside Starbucks, sitting at a table near the window. She was nervously spinning her cup around on the smooth surface, looking absolutely shattered.  
  
Katniss shuffled on the sidewalk, glancing over her shoulder from the direction she had walked. She could still see Chipotle, where she had left Peeta. He told her she needed to have this moment alone with Madge. Plus, she’d interrupted his breakfast and he was hungry.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Katniss turned back towards Starbucks and made her way inside. Madge was too caught up in her own thoughts to see her stroll past the window. She didn’t even realize Katniss had come to stand beside her until she tapped on her shoulder.  
  
Madge jumped in her seat, sharply glancing up at Katniss. Her blue eyes instantly filled with tears and her face crumbled. Katniss suddenly found her arms full of her sobbing best friend. She wrapped her arms tightly around her, feeling her own tears coming on.  
  
“I’m sorry,” Madge mumbled into the shirt that Katniss had borrowed from Peeta.  
  
Sniffling, Katniss gave her friend a squeeze. “I know.”  
  
Madge pulled back, her face still contorted in guilt and sadness. “I didn’t know he hadn’t told you. If I had known, I wouldn’t... I never...”  
  
“It’s okay,” Katniss soothed. “I made a bigger deal out of it than I probably should have. And then I went and acted like a complete brat and didn’t bother to think about how that would affect you.”  
  
Wiping her eyes, Madge shook her head. “I know you like to go out and forget things sometimes. I’m just not used to being the person you want to forget.” She looked down. “I got so scared when you didn’t-”  
  
She stopped and blinked at the shirt Katniss was wearing. She recognized it as the one she had specifically made for someone at one of the events Alpha Chi had done with Kappa Sigma. “That’s Peeta’s shirt.”  
  
Katniss glanced down at it. “Yeah...” She plucked at the fabric. “I ralphed all over everything last night at AJ’s.” Her grey eyes came back up. “I was insanely plastered,” she shrugged. “So my other shirt is still at Peeta’s.”  
  
“At Peeta’s?” Madge repeated with surprise. “You were at Peeta’s?”  
  
“Yeah...” Katniss said slowly. “You talked to Finnick. He told you I was there.”  
  
Madge shook her head quickly, as if she was trying to put together a puzzle. “I thought that meant you’d been out with him. That you had crashed on the couch and...” She frowned. “Did you and Peeta make up?”  
  
Katniss smiled coyly. “You...could put it that way.”  
  
Those bright blue eyes widened after several long seconds. “Oh my God!”  
  
Katniss’ arms were full of her best friend again, but this time said best friend was bouncing with joy.  
  
When Madge pulled away, she collapsed down into her chair and pointed at the one across from her. “Sit! You have to tell me everything!”  
  
“I don’t know,” Katniss set herself down into the chair. She gave her friend a playful look. “Something tells me you already have some of the inside information on this one...”  
  
Madge blushed and turned her attention to her coffee. She still managed to smile at the light ribbing. Katniss settled back in the chair, smiling, and proceeded to tell Madge all about what had happened after she’d stormed out on her at the sorority house.  
  
\----  
  
“This is not fucking acceptable!” Katniss bitched to Peeta, shaking the papers she clutched in his face.  
  
He leaned away from the intruding leaflets. “Babe...”  
  
The papers were replaced by her finger. “No, you can’t sweet talk this away!” Katniss brought the papers up to her face so she could glare at them.  
  
“A ‘B-’?!” she bemoaned. “How the fucking hell did we get a ‘B-’?!”  
  
Peeta shrugged, grinning as he brought his beer to his lips. He continued to rub his hand up and down her thigh, partly wishing she had opted to wear those short shorts he loved so much instead of the jeans.  
  
“Perhaps it’s the _fucking_ part that’s the problem here.”  
  
Both turned their attention across the table, where Gale was seated. He was absently spinning his own beer around. Peeta smirked at the mildly disgusted look on the other man’s face. Katniss menacingly squinted at her dark haired friend.  
  
When he noticed her look, he shrugged. “Well, you two went from one end of the spectrum to the other.” He sipped his beer to fortify himself before offering his analytic explanation. “You started out the semester hating each other, then you had your patch of friendship, and then _boom_!” He smacked his hand on the table, causing the other people around to look at him. “You’re a couple. I’m surprised your project managed to survive.”  
  
Gale sat back in his seat, picking up his beer again. “You were much more enjoyable when you wanted to rip out Mellark’s throat instead of ride his tiny frat boy dick, by the way,” he said to Katniss.  
  
Peeta flipped him off.  
  
“Keep insulting his tiny frat boy dick,” Katniss ignored the wounded look Peeta threw her. “And see if I buy any more of your drinks!”  
  
“No take-backsies.” Gale said with finality. He drained his mug before standing up from his seat. “And just because you said that, I’m going to get another.” He grinned, moving away from the table and towards the bar on the other side of the wall.  
  
Resisting the urge to chuck her beer bottle at his head, Katniss turned back to her boyfriend. He was smiling again, sipping more of his own beer. “What?”  
  
Peeta shook his head, lowering the bottle. “I don’t think he likes me.”  
  
Pouting in sympathy, Katniss patted his knee. “He was just fucking with you, Peeta.”  
  
“Nah,” Peeta leaned forward and placed his beer on the table. Then he took both of her hands in his. “He’s pissed because you ended up with me, even though I’m the one you’ve hated for years.” He kissed her knuckles. “He wanted a chance with you. Even after he found out you were a sorority girl, he wanted a chance.”  
  
Katniss blushed. “You don’t know that.”  
  
“I do...” Peeta nodded. “Gale thinks he’s smarter than me because I’m a writer and he knows everything about anything that happened prior to 1945. He thinks he’s better than me because I’m a dumb drunk frat boy. And he doesn’t understand how you went from wanting to strangle me to eye-fucking me in the middle of Tomahawk in a mere four months.”  
  
“I wasn’t eye-fucking you,” Katniss argued, pulling her hand from his. She turned towards the table, sipping at her beer. “I was thinking about how I’m gonna suck you dry in the bathroom later.”  
  
Peeta had to lean back again so he could adjust himself at the words she had murmured so innocently. “Anyway...” he tapped her ankle with his toe. “He’s probably right.”  
  
“About your tiny frat boy dick?” Her tone was still innocent as could be.  
  
He tapped her ankle harder. “About our fucking messing up our grade.”  
  
Katniss pouted and looked at him. “Paylor couldn’t possibly know about _that_.”  
  
“The way you practically jumped on his dick when you guys presented probably gave that away,” Gale said as he rejoined them, setting his full mug down. He pointed at Peeta. “Don’t you ever wear that suit around her again, especially if I’m around. It’s gross. And so is this,” he waved between them, “Foreplay you’ve got going on right here. I’m going to pee.”  
  
As Gale passed behind the short wall that Peeta was using as a backrest , the blonde man frowned confusedly at Katniss. “Why the hell did we invite him again?”  
  
Katniss looked at him, her gaze defensive. “We are commiserating over our _completely biased_ World War II seminar grades as classmates and friends.” She poked his knee when he rolled his eyes at the word ‘friends.’ “Well, he’s my friend and I like him.”  
  
Peeta made an exaggerated face, taking his beer back up.  
  
Katniss looked away again, the all too innocent demeanor returning. “Plus, I invited Madge...”  
  
He laughed loudly. “This makes so much fucking sense now!” He leaned forward once more, catching the mischievous smirk trying to fight its way free on Katniss’ face. “Trust you to try and hook up the most sorority of sorority girls with Mr. Anti-Greek movement.”  
  
She looked to him, a hint of something special in her grey eyes. “Trust me is right.”  
  
Peeta smiled. He hummed in agreement, shifting upwards to give her a very loving and trusting kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt used: AU fic where Katniss and Peeta dislike each other, but are put into a situation where they are forced into time alone together, and their feelings for each other quickly change.


End file.
